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Grevalon
Grevalon, officially the Principality of Grevalon, is a magoprincipality in the eastern continent of Laudrin. Its existence is exclusive to the Aeon of the Champion ''story series, forming one of the Seven Kingdoms that split from the empire of Anthromor - nominally in -4,000, and officially in -1,349. A small, magocratic city-state, its capital - and largest city - is Magecrown, the seat of power for the nation's monarchy and ruling Dom|mage council. History Pre-foundation Originally one of seven kingdoms within Anthromor, Grevalon's magi led the way in the field of arcane exploration and exploitation, and were the only mages to have obtained a royal permit from the King himself to conduct experiments on newly-discovered arcane substances. The Piltshire Disaster threw these privileges into question, and the resulting grassroots movement (as well as shadier forces) led to a series of stringent regulations being passed onto the client states of Anthromor. Foundation After struggling tirelessly against the increasingly arbitrarily and paranoid regulations on magic by Anthromor, Grevalon officially declared its independence from the ailing empire in January -1,349, becoming one of the first to do so. Its magi, travelling west, hoped to use their powers with greater freedom and also to create a settlement on which the love of magic study was valued and curated at all junctures. Eventually, the city-state became famous for its high-calibre spellcasters, and these magicians gained powerful socioeconomic influence - declaring themselves 'Magelords'''. The citizens of Grevalon initally tolerated their exploits, and established a thriving economy under the protection of their benevolent nobles. Struggles as a state The trouble started when the Magelords became over-ambitious. Seeing that their current activities were making them powerful, they conducted further research along those lines - and eventually discovered the entire city had been built over an arcanum deposit. The farming of his rare element immediately began, and, against better judgement, another arcanum reactor plant was built in the settlement of Pierpoint in -1,159. Subsequent petitions to postpone its opening failed, and the reactor was powered on. Unfortunately, it suffered the same faults as the previous reactor - Scyther - and melted down. This led to a general uprising against magic, led by the peasantry themselves, and later infiltrated by the Nightwatch. As the uprising gained traction, a series of magophobic attacks occurred in the once-crimeless city. This led to a schism in the anti-magic movement, so some of the original magophobes founded the Protector's Covenant, then headed eastwards and established their own realm - the Protectorate of Commoncrown. There, they resolved to live without magic and the arcane, in solitude forever. The means of production were owned communally, and there was no ruling class of any sort. Consequently, the peasants ignored any orders to cease and desist, leading to a civil war between the Protectorate and the Magelords, between years -1,155 and -1,150. The Protectorate were defeated, but their boldness shocked the Magelords, who began the process of de-classing their society almost immediately. The Five Year Miracle followed, resulting in a wave of meritocratic reform in Grevalon that involved the foundation of the Aeht Dom, its non-magic wing the Council of Commons, as well as the Deposits to catalogue spells, and the Laboratories for closed-circuit experimentation. During this time the office of Head of State was also created, with the Council of Seven - the Aeht Dom high council - voting on the new Prince/Princess of Grevalon. This rank, far from having true power, was intended to promote a PR-master who would engage with the public while the mages made policy. For over 700 years, House Atherton has held Magecrown. In time, the Aeht Dom, composed of the Council of Arcanists and Council of Commons, as well as The Seven, came to be the ruling authority in Grevalon. The city-state, under its direction, became a beautiful settlement of towering spires, glistening streets and extremely-talented magi. This naturally drew some high elves towards the settlement, sending their sons and daughters off to the prestigious magic schools in the state, having passed their aptitude tests. The Undergarde Though the War of the Ancients was long over, signs of demonic activity were being picked up by some of the more stalwart magi of the land. They were unwilling, however, to alert the Aeht Dom to the severity of the situation as they feared the Council of Commons would make the information public in the interests of transparency, resulting in public order problems and a possible relapse of poor magi-squib relations. Thus, the wizened scholars formed an underground organisation known as the Undergarde, operated by the Council of Hazelgulch, which would empower a host of individuals to secretly infiltrate and destroy demonic strongholds wherever they were found. The society went on to lay claim to a number of great exploits, namely the destruction of a twisted Eldari who was attempting to possess children in a schoolhouse. The Lady Guardian In 26 BGY, the Undergarde were shaken to the core when their Guardian - Grand Caster Alovi - was found dead in his bedchambers, his remains smeared across his bed as if it were cake batter. An examination of his bloodstained bedsheets immediately ruled out a suicide, but most members of the Garde remained suspicious, given that their Guardian was supposed to be almost impregnable; imbued with the power of every single member of the organisation itself. His replacement, Scardel, met a similar fate. In fact, between 26 and 19 BGY no Guardian of Hazelgulch lasted more than 2 years, as all of them met horrible deaths at close quarters. The crisis grew in magnitude year on year, and soon, the Undergarde found itself running extremely short on members. Being a secret society, it already struggled to recruit members; now the sudden deaths were making the situation worse. Meanwhile, the lack of a stable Guardian led to the build-up of demonic taint of Middle-Earth, and the citizens of Grevalon, once resolute, began to know fear. There was quarrelling in the streets. Looting. And then, political drama: Parker Rutledge, an outspoken member of the Council of Arcanists who controversially advocated for restrictions on arcane magic, became the new leader of the Council of Seven after the mysterious disappearance of Emmanuel Tyndall (who was later found in solitary confinement in a barely-alive state at the end of the First Earth War). Rutledge massively rolled back protections for magi and mage-learners, leading to the resurgence of magophobic attacks by the Nightwatch, as well as the increased influence of demonic power. Magnus Nivus, the esteemed magologist who discovered the relationship between time, arcanum and mana flow as Nivus' Law, was himself increasingly alarmed at the situation facing Grevalon. He despised Rutledge's conservatism, but despised politics even more, and thus decided to help the ailing city-state in another way. Having spent his life in research, he was now a Professor Emeritus at Magecrown Academy; though he only took on a very limited number of students - no more than 4. Of his disciples, one girl stood out to him in particular: Viviandra Augusta, daughter of Skrolan Spellbane II. The Spellbane family were not particularly known for producing amazing spellcasters, but the in-born magical ability of this girl pleased Nivus immensely; as was her ability to learn. She came to be known by the name "Aurelia"; legend has it that her golden-blonde hair provided Nivus the inspiration for the formerly-pejorative-but-now-reverent title. In a letter to Julius Aran, chair of the Council of Hazelgulch, he recommended that Aurelia be assessed by the Undergarde, due to her exceptional intellectual giftedness (to this date, she is the only magic student in the world to have scored above 570 in the Magic Aptitude Test, with the exception of Nivus himself). However, Aran admitted her into the Undergarde without an assessment; Nivus was an esteemed magologist and Aran took his word literally. Aurelia, unlike her predecessors, was undaunted by the scale of her task - despite only being a teenager when the mantle passed down to her. In 19 AGY, her tenure as Guardian began. Aurelia quickly gained prominence as a powerful, learned spellcaster; Nivus considered her his finest student, and she soon turned back the tide of demonic infestation in the city-state. Her first mission resulted in an entire horde of Bajangs being destroyed in Pierpoint, where they had been trying to mine the ruined town for arcanum deposits in the aftermath of the arcanum reactor that had struck the town years ago. However, the problem of Undergarde members dying remained, and it became a burden on the Council. Eventually, Aurelia deviated from her demon-fighting duties to find out what was causing the distress. It was eventually revealed that the deaths were the work of a necrolyte known as Micona, the Nightmare Mistress. One of the Three Gorgon Sisters (along with her boss, Queen Jiashara, and Nasceme) Micona had tapped into the life-draining, necromantic powers of the shadow, and was using parasitic Alp spirits to invade people's dreamspace and destroy them from the inside. While a mage/summoner slept, Micona's demons drove them to fatal convulsions. In fact, Micona had previously tried to extinguish Aurelia herself, but had failed due to unforeseen circumstances. In fact, when the two at last battled, it was Micona who went down; howling out of the universe as Aurelia wielded Altiesh, her greatstaff, against her. Jiashara was furious that her sister had failed, while Aurelia's reputation in Grevalon increased exponentially. While she had been battling Micona, though, a new threat emerged in the face of Sargamon himself. In 5 AGY, using galactic pathways constructed for him by his acolyte, Lox'andri, he had infused a portion of his soul into an artefact known as the Image of Sargamon, which he intended to finish what Micona had failed to do. He actually succeeded in accessing Aurelia's dreamspace, but rather than messing with it, instead attempted to convert her into the folds of his legion. When her soul resisted his attempts to lock into her heart, the demon tried to enter her mind instead. Aurelia's willpower shut him out entirely, and now, she had clues into his whereabouts. Later that year, she directly battled with the fallen angel, and, after an arduous clash, defeated him in combat. Fearing the return of his influence, Aurelia sealed off the shell of his spirit in an undisclosed location, finishing him off for good. The events between these 13 years enshrined her in Grevalonian history for time to come. First and Second Earth Wars ''0-5 AGY, '' During the First Earth War, Grevalon was slated towards a policy of neutrality and non-involvement, though it did give weak support towards the Dinith. This was defied in spectacular fashion by Kaarlo Atherton, Prince of Grevalon, who felt obliged to assist the defenders in their war with the orcs and dark ogres of Prarvis. Thus, he obtained special permission from Archmage Lamont Spellthorne, leader of The Seven, to rally the Knights of Magecrown and sail south towards the Kingdom of Phoenixgarde, in order to see off Vez'nan and Il'grogg's invasion. Unbeknownst to him, he had been bewitched by Coletta Le Fey, a vengeful acolyte and former member of The Seven who had been expelled for evocation. Communicating with her demonic associates, Coletta ensured Kaarlo would not be returning; his death at the age of 25 resulted in an outpouring of grief across the Eastern Kingdoms. Kaarlo's death also led to a major power vacuum within Grevalon, quickly filled by his 18-year-old sister, Silana, when she was appointed Princess consort by Archmage Spellthorne. Silana was infuriated by the orcish occupation of human lands, and suspected treachery from within the shiny walls of Magecrown itself. That said, she had to work on pressing matters. Lord Kaiden Spalding, military commander of Phoenixgarde, was initially reluctant to strike back against the green-skinned invaders, but Silana's persistence rekindled his warrior spirit. The Lion of Dinith roused, he agreed to accompany the young princess on a Great Embassy across the human kingdoms of Laudrin, Sherwood and Midrule, hoping that they would be persuaded into helping the occupied kingdoms of Forgil, Avantia and Phoenixgarde. The ruling houses Roulet, Meinhard and Niall doubted the authenticity of a 20-year-old girl's leadership, culminating in Belvazad Coldstream, Royal Chamberlain of House Roulet, made a crude comment about Silana in front of King Reamonn Roulet himself during the expo of Four Nations. Unable to bear the insult, Silana left the room in a huff and refused to address the courtiers, only resulting in hoots of laughter and derisory snorts from the Laudrin nobles - until the disapproving voice of Indira Lightshield, High Clerist of the Light, silenced their amusement. After she consoled the young princess, Silana returned to face the courtiers and convinced them to form an international alliance - along with the high elves of Quel'thalas and the newly-united dwarves of Triforge - to push back the orcs and liberate Dinith. The proposition was accepted. In the year 7 AGY, the Second Earth War began - with Grevalonians in the ranks. War against the Syndicate After the conclusion of the Second Earth War in 11 AGY, Princess Silana turned to the issue of homebound treachery. Coletta le Fey's intentions had been defeated in the meantime, but the shady woman still cast a grim silhouette over the city-state, and was intent on destroying House Atherton via alternative means. Unable to bewitch the Princess herself, as her spell had been intended for men, she instead decided to reverse-engineer the spell that it would possess females belonging to/working for the family, such that they would be recruited into her folds. The spell's power collapsed in the wake of its reverse-engineering, but it still worked. Nivus devised a plan. He would enchant one of the maids himself, and lead her into the Syndicate as a decoy. The decoy would expose the Syndicate from within, allowing the authorities to deal with it. This plan did succeed. Magic schools Grevalon is known for its high-performing, ultra-selective magic schools. The 7 of them were built between 1147 and 1102 BGY, and all opened by 1098 BGY. These include (by open dates): *Magecrown Academy (-1,128) *Witchwood School of Arts (-1,120) *Hogsbank County College (-1,117) *The Rutledge Academy of Mystical Sciences (-1,115) *Colars Lodge (-1,109) *Irornore Academy (-1,106) *Amolarth Institute of the Arcane (-1,098) An eigth school, which would have been located in Pierpoint, was cancelled due to fierce objections from locals. Trivia *Grevalon was inspired by the city-state of Dalaran in the ''Warcraft ''lore. **The difference is that Grevalon is more complex and bureaucratic, with various institutions and organisations holding political/social power in the city-state. **Grevalon also has a monarchy, though its role is primarily public relations. Category:Aeon of the Champion articles Category:Aeon of the Champion locations Category:Kingdoms Category:Smurf Manian's articles Category:Countries